Page 13 - TURKRptSep22

2.2 Turkey ‘becomes big transit import route for Russia’
Warehouses at ports in Turkey are packed full with goods bound for Russia, Dunya daily reported on August 4.
Turkey has become a busy transit hub for Russia’s imports as Moscow attempts to work around sanctions imposed by the US and Europe.
Cargoes arriving from around the world are unloaded at Turkish ports and switched to Turkish ships heading for Russia after “embargo screening.”
The goods are sent on without being registered as imports to Turkey.
To smooth goods flows to Russia, some Russian firms are opening offices in Turkey and entering into partnerships to carry out trade.
It is possible for Russians to buy Turkish real estate and create a local company to obtain Turkish citizenship.
They can then send products to Russia from the European Union and Far East via their new Turkey office address.
The shipments to Russia are often made by Turkish container companies, mostly by sea, with Western companies such as Maersk (Copenhagen/MAERSK B), Hapag Lloyd (Frankfurt/HLAG) and Hamburg Sud (a unit of Maersk) having ceased transporting goods to Russia.
Land, air and rail routes are also reportedly used.
“I was in [the southern port of] Mersin last week. Due to the loads coming from all over the world to be transferred to Russia, the warehouses in Mersin are full to the brim,” Mehmet Serkan Erdem, Turkey general manager of Italy’s Rif Line, was quoted as saying.
“In some instances, these cargoes are sent to Russia with the ships of Turkish ship owners, and in others many Russian trucks are coming to Turkey to transport these goods,” according to Erdem.
He also claimed many EU companies have been buying goods from countries such as China and Indonesia and sending them on to Russia via Turkey.
Turkey has in the year to date expanded its oil imports from Russia, including Urals and Siberian Light grades, to more than 200,000 barrels per day (around 11,000 tonnes) from 98,000 bpd in the same period of 2021.
Turkey has two oil refiners. The biggest, Tupras (TUPRS), bought 111,000 bpd of Russian oil from January to August, up from 45,000 bpd in the same period of last year, while the smaller player, Star Refinery, owned by the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (Socar), bought 90,000 bpd, up from 48,000 bpd a year ago.
Socar holds a stake in the production of Russian Urals and Siberian Light.
As of August 22, Brent was up 46% y/y to $97 while the Urals-Brent price difference (based on the rolling average of the last five days) stood at minus $25.
According to the latest data provided by Turkey’s energy watchdog EPDK, Russia became Turkey’s top source for crude oil in May (chart below).
13 TURKEY Country Report September 2022 www.intellinews.com